Levendi Winery Blog

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Winemaker Notes - Feels Like Summer is Almost Here

It is finally warming up, in fact, it is hard to remember all those cold, rainy, windy, dreary days that we had up until a week ago. Looking out now over the green exuberance of the vineyards in June, it is hard to believe that those tiny little flowers and pin sized grapes are ever going to develop into tasty wine grapes. The smell of grape vines blooming is a heady and slightly musky perfume - even quoted in the Songs of Solomon, for its romantic images. We will have to wait a few weeks to find out whether the cold weather has a big impact on Napa crops or not, so I am focusing on gently racking our '09 Chardonnays and '08 reds out of barrel for the upcoming bottling in July. I think this is perfect timing for them, they are evolved and balanced and ready for the next step. Bottling is always a brutal business, and I just have to shield the wines as much as possible, but getting them in the bottle so that they can get on with their development is so rewarding!